Frequently Asked Questions

Mark Zuckerberg likes to keep the Facebook office temperature at a cool 15 °C, whilst President Obama kept his Oval Office so hot “you could grow orchids in there” (according to one of his senior advisers).

Therefore, there is no single setting that will meet everyone’s expectations.

Temperature is, in fact, massively important to office productivity. Working conditions too hot or too cold have been shown to have a significantly adverse effect on concentration and work performance. Studies have shown that working temperatures above 23 °C are likely to decrease productivity, furthermore at 30 °C and above your productivity drops to about 90% of its original capacity. 

The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Standard 55 – 2013 Thermal Environmental Conditions for Human Occupancy offers that these recommended temperature ranges have been found to meet the needs of at least 80% of individuals. (highlighting that some people may feel uncomfortable even if these values are met). 

Recommendations for standard for workplace ergonomics include:

• Summer conditions: optimum temperature of 24.5°C with an acceptable range of 23-26°C
• Winter conditions: optimum temperature of 22°C with an acceptable range of 20-23.5°C

We at COOLNOMIX recommend a temperature setting of 23.0°C or 73.4 °F (equivalent)

Firstly, most of us believe that the remote-control unit can be used to input a required temperature set point of, say, 23°C and that the air-conditioning unit will deliver 23°C at the desktop. The problem is that 90% of the time the air-conditioning temperature sensor is not in the wall thermostat but in the indoor unit, usually at or near ceiling height. Because hot air rises the temperature in the normal height ceiling is about 2°C higher than at the working level. For this reason, when we request 23°C the air-conditioning sensor at height will try to drive down to 23°C with the result that the actual temperature at the working level will end up being 20-21°C. This is one major reason why people end up feeling too cold in the summertime.

COOLNOMIX^® delivers energy savings on direct expansion (DX) air-conditioners of any size and any kind, including:

• Commercial split-type air-conditioners (e.g. single mini, multi split wall mounted or ceiling cassettes)
• Package based and double expansion (DX) units up to the largest sizes available
• Ducted AC’s with AHU’s
• Inverter based (VRV and VRF) AC’s

COOLNOMIX^® can be deployed on Walk-In, Reach-In refrigerators and freezers type units to deliver energy savings for the storage and manufacturing of temperature sensitive goods and products, as for example:

• Food & Beverage manufacturing/storing,
• Other perishable items (dairy, meat, fish, flowers etc.) short/long term
• Pharmaceuticals

Chemical

COOLNOMIX^® retrofit technologies are easy to fit and installed on the indoor (evaporator) component of any refrigerant based direct expansion (DX) AC unit.

The energy saving magic is delivered using an AI based energy trading model and two temperature sensors which work together to optimise the performance of compressors, which are the main energy consuming (80-90%) components of air-conditioning systems.

The two COOLNOMIX^® temperature sensors monitor the room temperature and hot or cold supply air temperatures to decide when the indoor climate needs adjusting. In all cases maintaining required comfort levels is the primary objective.  Once required temperatures have been achieved COOLNOMIX^®  then works to prevent energy wastage.

The overall result is improved temperature control (typically +/- 0.5°C) and an average 30% reduction in air-conditioning energy consumption.

This 30% air-conditioning energy saving can result in an overall reduction in energy consumption by 20% or more (noting that AC can account for 70% of the total energy bill).

COOLNOMIX^® is an intelligent thermostat and as such it does not replace the OEM controller which continues to manage the sometime complex task of starting and shutting down multiple compressors. Because COOLNOMIX^® works with, rather than replaces the OEM sensors it is uniquely able to work with even the most modern variable speed inverter-based technologies. By contrast our competitors cut into the line between the controller and compressor which raises warranty flags and makes variable speed control impossible. (not sure we should say the last part)

There are many factors involved in in determining a savings percentage;

• The efficiency of the AC unit itself
• Is it overpowered or underpowered for the area it is cooling?
• What is the interior heat load?
• What is the exterior heat load?

We have seen effective savings ranging from 19 up to 47% based on the above variables. We like to under promise and over deliver, and we therefore say that our average savings are 30% for AC systems and 20% for reirrigation/freezer systems.     

No, our preferred COOLNOMIX^® installation approach ensures that the manufacturer provided control system remains fully in control of the start-up, shutdown and speed control of sometimes multiple compressors. Our philosophy with COOLNOMIX^® is not to interfere with the manufacturer provided standards for control. We are only telling the manufacturer’s thermistor when it is time to switch OFF (or slow down if inverter based) once the desired cooling levels have been achieved, or when to switch ON (or speed up, if inverter based), when temperature settings have gone above the setpoint.

No, the manufacturer’s control system continues to limit the frequency of compressor operations thereby preventing short-cycling. COOLNOMIX^® additionally has its own in-built anti short-cycling features to protect compressor operations and we will never call for cooling for less than 3 minutes and we shall never request a re-start in less than 3 minutes to avoid any possible short-cycling scenarios.

In practice the lifetime of an AC compressor is determined by the total hours of operation, but generally determined by the rate at which corrosion (rust) develops in the outside unit.

All COOLNOMIX^® units are warranted for 3 years, and have an expected lifespan of +10 yrs. and the calculated mean time to failure (MTTF) is 11.6 years.

With a compressor start, the spike in power consumption can be 10 times or more bigger that that during normal running. The good news however is that this spike only occurs while the compressor is ramping up to full speed. The duration of this spike in power consumption is typically about one tenth of a second, or 5-10 cycles in a 50/60 cycles per second mains power supply, not enough to register any significant increase in power consumption.

COOLNOMIX^® have a built-in protective device. In general terms electrical fluctuations are immune to the operability of COOLNOMIX^®, In the many years of experience, the only units that have been returned because of a failure in the power supply were connected line to line in a high voltage supply (380 or 440) that exceeded the working voltage.

COOLNOMIX^® works with the primary temperature sensing element in any cooling system. This ensures that the manufacturer provided control system remains in control to manage the timing of sometimes multiple compressor starts and stops. Therefore, One COOLNOMIX^® unit is therefore required for each thermostat or primary temperature sensing element.

Optimized Refrigerant Supply (ORS®) is Agile8 Consulting Ltd’s (owner of the COOLNOMIX^® product line) unique, patented advanced control technology for refrigerant based systems. All COOLNOMIX^® products make use of ORS® to achieve an appropriate balance between energy consumption and the supply of refrigerant needed to deliver required comfort levels.

In the rare event of a COOLNOMIX^® failure, the unit will transfer operational activities to the host cooling system. In this way the unit is completely failsafe.